Invited to a 1999 debate on the republic referendum at an inner city branch of the Liberal Party of Australia, my assertion that constitutional monarchies or crowned republics were among the world’s most advanced countries was greeted with derision and ridicule.

It was difficult to believe this was a branch of the party founded by Sir Robert Menzies. Saying " Well may you laugh," I then recited a list of countries with admirable records, all constitutional monarchies. this was greeted in resentful silence.

The fact is that of the seven oldest continuing democracies, five are constitutional monarchies. Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II reigns over four.

The Westminster system has been exported to many countries and has had an unrivalled success, unlike the constitutional models of the to two oldest ( politicians') republics, the USA and Switzerland.

For many years now, ACM has been posting evidence on this site supporting our argument that constitutional monarchy (or as many say a "Crowned Republic") offers the world’s most consistently successful form of government.

This is principally in the United Nations’ annual Human Development Index and in certain other indices. By ranking countries in a way which is more consistent with this thinking, the HDR report has helped shift the debate away from gross domestic product (GDP) per capita as the only measure of development.

Instead, the HDI has provided a summary of each country’s achievement in attaining for its people:

· A long and healthy life,

· access to knowledge, and

· a decent standard of living.

A common theme emerges in all of these indices. While constitutional monarchies make up only about 15% of the nations of the world, they are very much over represented among the best performing countrie sin the world. Recent academic research indicates the most important factors in a nation becoming and remaining democratic, prosperous and well educated is its institutions. This surely means that the institutions in a constitutional democracy seem to be particularly appropriate for a nation to become democratic, prosperous, well educated. It is more than a coincidence.

"The US wrongly assumed you could implant democracy on soil which had known only dictatorship since the overthrow of the constitutional monarchy in 1958," concludes a letter published in The Australian on !0 April 2013. It was on John Howard’s address on Iraq the evening before at the Lowy Institute.

This photo is of the last King, Faisal 11, at the age of 5. At the age of 23 he and most of the Royal Family under safe conduct were murdered - when under safe conduct - in 1958 when a brutal republican dictatorship was installed.

“More than a motto, the focus on measurement permeates and guides all the work of the institute,” he writes. “As few things matter more than freedom, it is only fitting that Fraser has embarked in its most ambitious methodological effort: measuring human freedom.”

The Institute’s Freedom Index encompasses personal as well as economic freedoms. Just released in a book, “Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom,” it is very reassuring for constitutional monarchies, or as some of us say, crowned republics.

Of the top five countries, four are constitutional monarchies – New Zealand, the Netherlands, Australia and Canada .

Of the top ten, six are crowned republics; of the first twenty , nine are.

Australian political debate has become a very bitter, personal slanging match, writes David Knowles ofChittaway Bay, NSW, in a letter to The Sydney Morning Herald , 23 August 2012. The race for the prime ministership certainly brings out the worst in our politicians. How much more intense would be the battle for an all-powerful presidency?

Given the adversarial nature of our two-party system, a presidential election would become a political battle similar to that which we are witnessing in the United States: a year-long marathon of fund-raising rallies, horse-trading and advertising. No one but a career politician with the backing of a powerful party could enter the contest - no High Court judge, no military leader, no educator, no prominent citizen - just two politicians selected by the parties.

People advocating an Australian republic should stop and look at our current and recent crop of politicians.

His Eminence, Cardinal George Pell, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, recently wrote on the comparison between political presidents and respected hereditary monarchs.

His position on the question of Australian becoming some form of politicians' republic became well known when he was nominated by the then Prime Minister, John Howard, as a delegate to the 1998 Constitutional Convention.

Contrary to the myth that some republicans have spread, John Howard did not manipulate the membership of the convention, just as he did not manipulate the question.

In fact the majority of nominated delegates were republican, and Dr Pell was no exception. The overwhelming majority of nominated ex- officio delegates - such as premiers and ,opposition leaders - were also republican. The nominated delgates made up one half of the membership of the convention.

The latest United Nations Human Development Index has just been released for the year 2011. For over two decades the index has been an authoritative guide, measuring and combining statistics concerning health, wealth and education in the development of the countries of the world.

And once again constitutional monarchies or crowned republics do better than their numbers in the world would suggest. Of the top three countries all are constitutional monarchies and of the top five countries, four our constitutional monarchies – statistically there should barely be one.

[King of the No.1 country; Queen of Nos. 2, 5, 6 and 28 (UK) ]

Of the top 10, seven are constitutional monarchies. Statistically there should be less than two. Of the top 20, 10 are constitutional monarchies. There should only be three. Of the top 20, 10 are constitutional monarchies. There should barely be four.

And all of the lowest 20 are… republics

...experience...

The first time I argued these statistics was during the 1999 Republic referendum. Invited to a 1999 debate on the republic referendum at an inner city branch of the Liberal Party , my assertion that constitutional monarchies or crowned republics were among the world’s most advanced countries was greeted with hoots of derision and ridicule.

It was difficult to believe this was a branch of the party founded by Sir Robert Menzies.

Saying " Well may you laugh," I recited a list of countries with admirable records, all constitutional monarchies. This was greeted in resentful silence.

...the HDI...

The human development data utilized in the preparation of the Human Development Index (HDI) and other composite indices featured in the Human Development Report are provided by a variety of public international sources and represent the best and most current statistics available for those indicators at the time of the preparation of this annual report.

Calculations of HDI values and country rankings are the sole responsibility of the Human Development Report Office.

The 2011 Human Development Report, an editorially independent publication commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme, was published in print and on line on November 2nd, 2011. Read more